Blog
Notes on making WordPress fast.
Guides, explanations and case notes from the Caching Out team. Every figure quoted names where it was measured.
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The Complete Guide to Database Optimization
Your WordPress database accumulates clutter over time. Post revisions, auto-drafts, spam comments, expired transients, and orphaned metadata build up with every edit, every spam attempt, and every plugin…
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WordPress Performance Myths Debunked
WordPress performance advice is everywhere — and much of it is wrong. Well-meaning forum posts, outdated blog articles, and marketing copy from hosting companies have created a thick…
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What a CDN changes, and what it does not
A Content Delivery Network (CDN) is a network of servers distributed around the world that deliver your site’s static assets — images, CSS, JavaScript, fonts — from a…
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The Case for WebP and AVIF Images
WebP and AVIF are modern image formats that usually make smaller files than JPEG and PNG at a similar visual quality. Smaller images mean fewer bytes for every…
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Optimizing WooCommerce for Speed
WooCommerce powers over 4 million online stores, but it is also one of the most resource-intensive WordPress plugins. Every product page loads additional CSS, JavaScript, and database queries…
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Deferring JavaScript for Faster Page Loads
JavaScript is the most expensive resource on the web. Unlike images and CSS, which can be downloaded and processed in parallel, JavaScript blocks the browser’s main thread. While…
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Render-blocking CSS, explained
Caching Out does not eliminate render-blocking CSS: its Optimize CSS delivery setting inlines the styles the top of each page needs and loads the rest after the first…
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Lazy Loading Images: The Right Way
Images are the largest assets on most web pages. On an average WordPress site, images make up most of the page weight. Lazy loading is the technique that…
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A Beginner’s Guide to Browser Caching
Page caching speeds up the first visit to your site. Browser caching speeds up every visit after that. Together, they are the one-two punch of web performance —…
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How Page Caching Works (and Why Your Site Needs It)
Page caching is the single most effective performance optimization you can apply to a WordPress site. For most sites it is the single largest improvement available, and it…